order now and also get this shredder to keep your documents out of the wrong hands-- a $29 dollar value, free. get protected now. call the number on your screen or go to lifelock.com to try lifelock protection risk free for a full 60 days. use promo code: gethelp. plus get this document shredder free-- but only if you act right now. call the number on your screen now! melissa: i am melissa francis. lori: i am lori rothman. president obama bought t but tos picks for treasury secretary. plus, what the nominations mean for the market. melissa: and good news for the gas market. lori: if you build it, the jobs will come.

creating jobs in the small town, we're pleased to have the mayor join us with his story in minutes. melissa: very cool. lori: time for a market check. let's head down to the floor the new york stock exchange, giving back earlier gains. nicole: that is true. we have been pushed around a little bit, even moved into negative territory but the move to the upside and getting some of the moves to the upside with the gains we are seeing, dow jones industrials up 34 points, the bank stocks are looking little better and that is one of the reasons we have had the turnaround. drug stocks doing good. the dollar continues to drop. as the dollar is dropping that gives room for the commodities and equities to move higher. i wanted to take a look at a name that is making news and that is molly corporation. rare earth is something that has the demand they have seen is dwindling particularly in china.

and so now you are seeing this stock dropping 22.5%. that is a drop of almost two and a half dollars now sitting at 836. as they evaluate their capital means so far not so good for molly corporation, moll lori and melissa. melissa: the president will be nominating the chief of staff jack lew as next treasury secretary. should we be gearing up for another confirmation battle? rich edson at the white house with the latest on this story. what do you think? rich: we very well could be. he refuses to address entitlements in spending. he is the typical big government liberal and a troubled person to deal with in his capacity as chief of staff for the

white house but democrats point out he knows budgets. he has been a budget director for the clinton administration, obama administration and they say that is why they picked him. >> in the past quarter of a century jack lew has been an integral part of some of the most important budgetary financial and fiscal agreements, bipartisan agreement in washington. >> "rolling stone magazine" will have to come to the senate and tell what his thoughts are about the spending and how it plans to address it. rich: it is u up to send them to see this another proxy fight to add to the administration on their views about that deficit and spending. back to you. melissa: i have to wonder how his senate confirmation will go to look at comments, there is just a lot of anger and frustration with jack lew hanging over from the past, statements he has made.

can he get past the confirmation? >> the question or will there be enough to vote against him? there will be republicans who vote against him but it is questionable if enough will actually block his nomination. only because you still have first off a few democrats saying they have problems with defense secretary nomination in chuck hagel. he believes too much in the president's economic policies. that is not what they should technically be having with the president. melissa: thank you so much. lori: explosion of online shopping has meant big business for amazon and they are expanding and investing. increasing the fulfillment centers or items are packed and shipped. now 47. new jersey will be the new home of one of these film centers. msn investing $200 million promises 700 new jobs and 22 million in tax revenue over time.

we are pleased to welcome the mayor, welcome to you. >> thank you very much for having me. lori: what is the timeframe and when can i get to work? >> this construction project will happen very fast and could start in the next couple of months completed at the end of 2014. lori: why did robinson choose this town? shipping is key, why did they come to you? >> our town is centrally located in the middle of the state. very easy to go north, south, east and west. a good reputation of luring fortune 500 companies to our town. making the process more business oriented as opposed to what people are used to in government. we talk about projects in our town in terms of customers really trying to make it easier for business to do business with government.

lori: were budget in 2012, 2013, and with a promising 22 million in tax revenues. i thought wow, and one year they will make the entire budget, but this is overtime so tell me what the tax revenue will mean to your township. >> i wish it was in one year. government is very hard in terms of texas going up every year, this will allow us to stabilize taxes and maybe even bring taxes down. million dollars per year to a town our size is a big deal. to offer jobs is something that is a ver very amazing for the ks coming home from school, guaranteed job for everyone in our town and for them as well. lori: the average salary $55,000 per year, more than the average retail salary job, that could create a nice ripple effect through the economy. >> absolutely. in addition to great salaries they offer lots of stock options

and this will be a real opportunity for lots of people who desperately need them. lori: would it be nice if amazon could open a fulfillment center in all of these? you mentioned they won the fulfillment center, but do you have advice for any other townships around the country that are really struggling with their fiscal challenges? >> this is a long process. the credit of bringing it to new jersey goes to governor chris christie, but being able to have a good process and bring people in town and explain why these businesses should be able to be attracted to your town, which are going to be able to do for them really is a sales perspective and they are not used to selling. that is something the mayors have to start doing because they have so many choices. melissa: thank you for joining

us, we look forward to hearing how things come along as amazon breaks ground. >> thank you for having me. melissa: good for them. gas prices moving steadily through 2012 but our next guest says you can expect good news at the gas pump this year. joining us on the phone with his outlook. what makes you think prices are going down from here for the next year or so? >> we are going higher from here, but in the first three months of 2012 moved up $0.65, we will not do that. we do it with the wind at our back for this preseason rally but i think it will be much more tamed than previous years, and domestic oil situation and the cheap crude in north america will be a continuing story for 12 months. melissa: we are looking at a chart of natural retail gasoline and it has been on a trend upward. the most anybody paid to visit

grandma for thanksgiving. they look at data out of mastercard, gasoline demand is at the lowest level it has been since 2004 when i started getting the data in the hulk and prices be so high with demand at historic low? >> now you have to look at the key price, trading more than the wti price. it is a little bit subdued but the world prices moving higher because growth, it will continue to see that in south america and asia they will use more crude and more diesel. in the u.s. there is no question, it is moving lower. it is not heavy attrition, but we will be using less in 2013 and 2012 and there is a little bit of a sweet spot.

the oil shale comes out to market sometimes for lots less than that may boost in the refining and manufacturing. at the end of the year we will pay on average $3.25 to $3.50. melissa: we're still seeing prices that are high, but demand is so low. what happens if people get back in their car and drive more? if you look at all the people who would like to be working more than the people totally discouraged from the workforce, so much higher than the topline of those people had to go back to work or find something to do it seems demand will go back up and prices will explode. >> we have plenty of supply. we will export a little bit less whether it is diesel or gasoline. nobody can take responsibility for it, it is a factor of price and technology, but we are in good shape.

we will never see the numbers we saw back in the early part of the century and we paid $1.35, $2. but we will pay considerably less than some of the numbers we have seen in the last few years. melissa: always fantastic, your finger on the pulse of everything happening in the gas market. we appreciate it. >> take care, melissa. lori: and the nominees are. not for treasury secretary, we already know that thanks to charlie gasparino. we have the oscar nods and snubs ahead. melissa: and where are the women? why so far it is shaping up to be a boys club. this is america.

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lori: time to make money with charles payne. sometimes way to make money well is to not spend it. the place i rarely take. we have all been critical on the stock. charles: we had talked about that. melissa: they found the expensive crazy contract. you were just talking about how they had to freshen things up. charles: yeah, there is no killer app, nothing have to go and get this year. i went there over the holiday season and that was just blah. i have to tell you, put down a lot more than this. you look at the chart, you can see where it was up recently. i don't know who is buying it. but somebody must think the turnaround is here.

i would rather see more evidence as opposed to a hunch, but hit $58 earlier today. again, japan was weak, they will print a whole lot of money. asia-pacific, found out it is one of these -- lori: nothing like receiving a gift in a late loop box. melissa: there is turnaround value, have you freshen up what is in the box. charles: i wanted to mention that, if anyone followed up and did it, that is what we just d did. had to ring the register is with these details. melissa: you never know. don't be a hog. thank you so much.

as with every 15 minutes, let's check the market. on the floor of the new york stock exchange. nicole: looking at general motors and ford. looking at them today, both of them are doing well, ford up almost 2.5%, general motors up 1% and with these moves both of these names are hitting 52-week highs. both of them are back to levels of july 2011. so not bad at all to see these moves. ford is moving higher as they increase their dividends, so obviously that shows them some belief in the companies are sustainable in the business cycles so they see growth there. general motors is hiring people and improving information technology center as part of their plan going forward, and so that is looking good. melissa: thank you so much. lori: president obama's pick for treasury secretary expected in moments, those remarks live.

melissa: it is battle of the hedge fund titans. charlie gasparino just back from the company's investor meeting with exclusive new details. and look at how the dollar is faring today as we head out to break. suddenly, she does something unexpected

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nicole: 21 past the hour, i made an appointment with your fox news minute. jerry sandusky back in court today arguing he needs a trial because his defense team lacked time to prepare for the first one. no ruling from the judges get convicted in june for five counts of child sex abuse. vice president joe biden meeting with the nra, the top gun lobby. vice presidents joe biden met with him yesterday. he will send gun recommendations to the president by tuesday. a shift in ice appears to have freed the dozens of killer whales trapped in the hudson bay ice 100 miles north of montreal. they were taking turns bobbing

up for air in a single break the ice for the past couple of days. villagers planning and icebreaking askew when the wind shifted overnight when the ice creating an opening for the whales to swim to safety. those are your news headlines, now back to melissa and lori. melissa: mother nature swooping in and saving the day. what a saga. lori: we need some good news. always fun. herbalife came out swinging today on charges to reassure that the company is not a pyramid scheme. what happened? shares went down. charlie gasparino has the story. charlie: so far the ceo of herbalife, they have not made the sale to investors that taxation is wrong. but we will get to that in a little bit. a couple of interesting headlines the fox business network has been able to uncover. significant eight figure

retainer. the famed attorney retained for possible litigation. significant eight figure retainer. melissa: he is so busy with hank greenberg, i'm surprised he has time for this. charlie: now he will be looking herbalife. from what i understand, significant eight figure retainer. he looks like my old boss at "newsweek." i go all over the place. but we should point out he was barred from the herbalife meeting. lori: can they do that? charlie: he is a short seller, not an investor. he should buy one stock and show up and harass the ceos. guess where he is right now.

he is issuing statements telling the fox business network and everybody else he's going to issue questions or herbalife on how they misled the public, he will issue questions, further questions about their business model which he obviously thinks is a fraud. bill ackman is telling people he he's bracing for possible legal action from herbalife and that the company, he is actually interfering with their business model. we should point out one major distributor has backed out of herbalife. if they don't have distributors. melissa: multilevel marketing, you need distributors. charlie: he is scheduled to be interviewed with us. we will see, but later on this afternoon.

melissa: the basic presentation was about the multilevel marketing or a pyramid scheme. they tried to make their case, you have been discussing this all day and the essential difference, how much revenue for each. charlie: what is a pyramid scheme? this is a legal definition. i have a whole definition, could scheme if you have a company that makes money just by distributing products. if you'r your distributor to pae company a fee, but not by filling the company product. at some point you can sell the products the distributors that we will not do this anymore. melissa: more from recruiting people then selling the product. charlie: but investors put money into the company but eventually you start getting distributors because no product to sell so the company implodes. that is what ackman is saying.

herbalife says it does sell stuff however i will tell you one of the problems they had to date was and never saw the real breakdown in sales. they have a lot of distributors, china and everywhere else, but you don't get the impression when you listen to them today that they're actually striking gold, the distributors are actually selling shakes. how do you build a business model of selling protein shakes? and i drink them all the time. lori: charlie, as you know, keep it here on fox business for his interview with herbalife president. thank you again, charlie. melissa: breaking news, live pictures from the white house as we await president obama's nomination, we will bring that to you live next. lori: a look at the winners and losers on the s&p 5000. an overall bullish market, we are back after this.

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use promo code: gethelp. plus get this document shredder free-- but only if you act right now. call the number on your screen now! lori: let's get an update on the markets. it is time after all for stocks now. back to the floor of the new york stock exchange and nicole petallides. nicole. >> we're watching a market here, lori and melissa, looking good again here on wall street. the dow jones industrials up about 33 points. that's a gain of one quarter of 1%. the s&p up one-third of 1%. we've watched banks doing very well on the dow jones. names like bank of america, jpmorgan. those are two dow components certainly helping us to move along to the upside. name like goldman sachs, for example, actually hitting a 52-week high that dates back to the summer of 2011. of course we're waiting on the president as well to speak. we've heard over in europe things were looking better. the euro is strong. the dollar has pulled back

significantly today. a lot of traders really focusing on currencies today as the dollar is lower. the vix, the fear index, is to the downside. oil and gold have been taking off. we've seen the automakers, names like gm and ford hitting 52-week highs. retailers have been mixed depending which one you're looking at the urban outfitters hit aring a 52-week high while tiffany's has been suffering today. back to you. melissa: thank you so much, nicole. the president's announcement for a new treasury secretary taking place in a few minutes. let's head over to john silva from wells fargo what jack lew means to the economy. thanks so much for joining us. >> sure. melissa: john, let me ask you. he is somebody that comes from the rubin school of economics. believes bigger government is better it seems. is that your impression of him and what does that mean in a treasury secretary. >> i think the president is choosing jack because of two reasons. one, he knows the fellow. they have worked together for a while. then second, i think jack is

the budget person. he is the finance person. he will be probably in the best position, i think in the best position to negotiate with congress. i don't think it is an issue of financial regulation. i don't like think it is an issue of international relations. basically jack will probably negotiate in favor of continuing significant government spending going forward. only modest cuts in the budget overall. melissa: you talk about negotiating with congress and that is something that, you know, has been, i guess he has been very tough on in the past is the right way to say it. senator judd gregg from new hampshire saying he was a tough guy to negotiate when he was talking about the debt ceiling. he has positions and doesn't give much ground although he is really nice person. he added that at the end of the people seem to like him. if he is tough negotiator is now the time to have someone like that when we're trying to build some consensus and we have go sides that are always very far apart? >> the way i view it, simply

he reflects the president. i think the president has been a tough negotiator. certainly when you look at the fiscal cliff deal, it does seem that the president won most of that battle. so i would suspect that jack simply reflects the president. and that seems to be the way we're going to go forward, as someone in the financial markets. that is what i have to take it at face value, whether it is good for bad overall for the economy over the long run, it just doesn't seem to be all that important right now. what seems to be important is, the position of jack and the president seems to be, defending the spending numbers, and being very, very cautious about tax cuts. melissa: yeah. senator jeff sessions from alabama is very fixed on a comment that he made, that jack lew made a while ago, i guess february of 2011, about president obama's blueprint for the budget and he said, we are not adding to the debt anymore. and there was almost no, sort of quantitative way to make that be true.

although they came back afterwards and tried very hard to justify that statement. senator sessions has said, it was a false statement and that is a tough person to have out there as treasury secretary when he is making these claims mathematically very tough to defend. how do you feel about that? >> what do you think about that? >> well from the private sector point of view, federal government debt is continuing to go up, driven primarily by entitlements over the long run. that is the way we have to treat it. i don't see a case being made based upon the behavior of the last three or four years that federal debt will be slowing down anytime soon. we have large deficits that continue to accumulate driven primarily by entitlement spending that is not going to change. melissa: do you see him doing any trimming at any point down the road? i mean as some people pointed out he did say at some point it would make sense to raise the medicare age. do you think he believes that and would advocate for that at all? >> i think the president and

jack lew are probably agree to some modification. as you say, trim, melissa, would probably be the fair term. in terms of deep cuts, fundamental reform, big draw back in terms of entitlement spending i don't think that is going to be on the table. i think we're trimming at the margins. melissa: so what do you think all of this means going forward? what is your outlook for the economy, given all that we have going on, john? >> seems when we look at debt-to-gdp ratios, when we look at long term, it seems the argument is you will try to stablize debt-to-gdp at some very high level. we'll not be cutting that debt-to-gdp level down as some people would like. and i guess the question for us in the private sector is, is debt at a certain level relative to the gdp, is it going to stablize and how much can we depend upon low interest rates for a long period of time to help stablize that ratio? and will the global markets

accept that? will the chinese and japanese be willing to accept large fiscal deficits in the united states, continuing to be refinanced over time, at what every the given interest rates in the marketplace are. very, very different story that what we traditionally think about in terms of fiscal policy in the united states. melissa: john, thank you so much. >> thank you. melissa: so we are expecting the president's official nomination of jack lew as treasury secretary shortly. we'll bring you those remarks coming up live. lori: speaking of treasury, let's look at treasury rates. the 10 and 30-year treasury for you. 10-year, 1.88%. and out the curve the 30-year is unchanged yielding 3.06%. [ male announcer ] this is joe woods' first day of work. and his new boss told him twongs -- cook what you love, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll wk his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and me from the great northwest.

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melissa: here is your fox business brief. the united nations is downplaying fears of a global food crisis as drops drop for a third straight month in december. according to the food and agriculture organization food prices were down 7% last year from the year before. the agency also warning bad weather could spark a repeat of the rioting and unrest that hit parts developing world in 2007 and 2008. shares of supervalu are soaring after striking a deal to sell five grocery store chains to a consortium of investors led by cerberus capital management. the deal is worth $3.3 billion. amazon looking to take a bite out of amazon's itunes. they are launching auto rip,

a service that gives customers free mp3s of the cds they purchased through their cloud player library. very cool. that's latest from the fox business network, giving you the power to prosper.

lori: and the cabinet turnover continues. we're awaiting the president. you're looking live at the white house where president obama is expected to introduce jack lew, currently his chief of staff and nominated treasury secretary, to succeed timothy geithner here in the second term. similar to chuck hague bell, likely to face a heated battle for confirmation. here's the president. >> good afternoon, everybody. please have a seat. a little more than four years ago i stood with mr. tim geithner and announced him as my first nominee to my cabinet. we were barely two months into the financial crisis. the stock market had cratered. the housing market had cratered as well. bank after bank was on the verge of collapse, and worst of all, more than 800,000 americans would lose their

jobs in just that month. and the bottom was not yet in sight. so i couldn't blame tim when he tried to tell me wasn't the right guy for the job. but i knew that tim's extensive experience with economic policy made him imminently qualified. and i also knew that he could hit the ground running. as chairman of the new york federal reserve he had just spent several sleepless and chaotic weeks emersed in the complexities of the crisis and had been working closely with his republican predecessor at treasury to save the financial system. then with the wreckage of our economy still smoldering and unstable i asked him to help put it back together. and thanks in large part to his steady hand our economy has been growing again for the past three years. our businesses have created nearly six million new jobs. the money that we spent to save the financial system has largely been paid back.

we put in place rules to prevent that kind of financial meltdown from ever happening again. an auto industry was saved. we made sure taxpayers are not on the hook if the biggest firms fail again. we've taken steps to help underwater homeowners come up for air, and open new markets to sell american goods overseas. and we've begun to reduce our deficit through a balanced mix of spending cuts and reforms to a tax code that, at the time that we both came in was too skewed in favor of the wealthy at the expense of middle class americans. so when the history books are written, tim geithner is going to go down as one of our finest secretaries of the treasury. [applause]

don't embarass him. [laughter] on a personal note, tim has been a wonderful friend and dependable advisor throughout these last four years there's an unofficial saying over at treasury, no peacocks, no jerks, no whiners. that would be a good saying for all of washington. no peacocks, no jerks, no whiners. few embody that ideal better than tim geithner. that's why when tim was thinking about leaving a couple years ago i had to personally get on my knees

with carol, to help convince him to stay on a little bit longer and i could not be more grateful to carol and the entire geithner family for allowing him to peak the sacrifices that so many of our cabinet members ask of their families in serving the country. the fact is while a lot of work remains, especially to rebuild a strong middle class and offer working folks new pathway to rise into the middle class, our economy is better positioned for tomorrow than most of those other countries hit by the financial crisis. the tough decisions tim made and carried out deserve a lot of credit for that. so i understand that tim is ready for a break. obviously we're sad to see him go but i can not think of a better person who continue tim's work at treasury than jack lew. now, this is bittersweet not

only because tim's leaving but also because jack's been my chief of staff for the last year. he was my budget director before that. i trust his judgment. i value his friendship. i know very few people with greater integrity than the man to my left. so i don't want to see him go because it is working out really well for me to have him here in the white house but my loss will be the nation's gain. jack has the distinction of having worked and succeeded in some of the toughest jobs in washington and the private sector. as a congressional staffer in the 1980s he helped negotiate the deal between president reagan and tip o'neill to save social security. under president clinton he presided over three budget surpluses in a row. though for all the talk out there about deficit reduction, making sure our books are balanced, this is the guy who did it, three times.

he helped oversee one of our nation's finest universities, and one of our largest investment banks. in my administration he has managed operations for the state department and the budget for the entire executive branch. and over the past year i've sought jack's advice on virtually every decision that i have made from economic policy to foreign policy. one reason jack has been so effective in this town because he is a low-key guy who prefers to surround himself with policy experts rather than television cameras. and over the years he has built a reputation as a master it of policy who can work with members of both parties and forge principled compromises. and maybe most importantly, as the son of a polish immigrant, a man of deep and devout faith, jack knows that every number on a page, every dollar we budget, every decision we make, has to be an expression of who we wish to be as a nays -- nation, our values. the values that say

everybody gets a fair shot at opportunity. and says that we expect all of us to fulfill our individual obligations as citizens in return. so jack has my complete trust. i know i'm not alone in that. in the words of one former senator, having lew on your team is equivalent of a coach is having luxury putting somebody at almost any position knowing that he could do well and i could not agree more. i hope the senate will confirm him as quickly as possible. i want to personally thank both of these men and their families, especially carol and ruth, for their extraordinary service to our country. and with that i would like to invite them to say a few words, starting with tim. >> mr. president, it's been a privilege to serve you. i'm honored and grateful that you asked me to do this really. i am, and i'm very proud of what my colleagues at treasury and your economic

team was able to help you accomplish these first four years. when you step understood this building as president you were confronted with a world in crisis, the worst crisis in generations and you made the necessary, the hard, the politically perilous choices that saved the american people, saved american industry, saved the global economy, from a failing financial system. and you were successful response to the crisis. of course did not solve all the nation's challenges. it could not have done so. but the actions you took along with those of a forceful and creative federal reserve have made the country stronger and have put us in a much better position to face the many challenges still ahead of us and they are many. i have the greatest respect for jack lew. i know him as a man of exceptional judgment, calm under pressure, with an extraordinary record of accomplishment and

experience. over decade spent at the center of american economic policy. he is committed to defending the safety net for the elderly and the poor. he understands what it takes to create the conditions for stronger economic growth and broader economic opportunity. and he understands that to govern responsibly is to govern with a recognition that we have limited fiscal resources. now like jack i have spent my professional life in this world of public policy and public service. and as all of you know our families carry a large share of the burdens we assume in public life. and i feel incredibly fortunate that my wife carol and my family have been willing to allow me to do this. i thank them for their support and their patience and i understand their occasional impatience. i want to express my admiration and my appreciation for the women

and the men of the treasury department. those who came to serve you these years of crisis, and the civil servants of the treasury with whom i first started working in 1988. they are exceptionally talented and honorable public servants. i'm very proud of what they have helped you accomplish and i am confident that my successor will find them the extraordinary asset they're to the nation. i also hope that americans will look at the challenges we face today and decide as many of you in this room have, that in spite of the divisive state of our political system today that serving your country is compelling and rewarding work. that was my experience and i am grateful and will always be grateful to you for having given me the opportunity to serve you as the 75th secretary of the treasury. [applause]

>> mr. president, it has been my honor to serve as your chief of staff and before that at omb and the state department. it is a privilege to come to work every day as part of a team that is dedicated to build a sound economy and a safer world. tim, you have been a colleague for many years, actually decades and the american people are better off for your outstanding service. you know i thought i knew you pretty well but it was only yesterday that i discovered we both share a common challenge with penmanship. of la of laugh. -- [laughter] tim, i join the president and everyone here wishing

you and carol your whole family well. as a kid growing up in queens i had dreams of making a difference in the world. these dreams were nutured in a home where the gifts of american freedom an opportunity were cherished and never taken for granted. the responsibility to engage in issues of public concern were part of daily life. i will always be grateful to my parents for grounding me in the values that have remained central to my personal and professional life. i grew up professionally in the office of speaker o'neill whose compass was always clear and who demanded unvarnished advice how to reach the desired destination. mr. o'neill cared little about your age or rank but only whether or not you did the hard work to form the decisions of the day and you took a big chance giving a lot of responsibility to a very young man and for that i will always be thankful. serving at omb first under president clinton and recently under this admin strags i worked with one of the finest teams in the government. execute responsible fiscal

policy and advancing policies to promote economic growth. i'm delighted to see so many of my friends from omb here today. at the state department i worked closely with our great secretary of state and my friend, hillary clinton, to advance our nation's national security agenda including our international economic policies. and as chief of staff i've had the pleasure of working with a tremendously talented while house team which manages policy, politics, communications and complex operations every day with grace, skill and loyalty. if confirmed i look forward to joining the treasury department whose people are legendary for their skill and knowledge. it's a team i have collaborated with closely over many years and have come to respect greatly. finally thankful to ruth, shoshi, and the kids for tolerance to the demands of schedule that tests all family patience. thank you, mr. president for your trust, your confidence and friendship. serving in your administration has allowed me to live out those values my parents instilled in me

and i look forward to continuing the challenges ahead. [applause] [applause] >> well these are two outstanding public servants. i think the only point that i want to make, leave you with is the fact that i had never noticed jack's signature, and when this was highlighted yesterday in the press i considered rescinding my offer to appoint him [laughing] jack assures me that he is going to work to make at least one letter legible in order not to debase our

currency. should he be confirmed as secretary of the treasury. so, thank you very much everybody. [applause] melissa: all right. so that was president obama, nominating jack lew for treasury secretary. obviously they were making a lot of jokes about his very loopy signature we showed on the bottom of the screen. that actually doesn't seem to contain any letters as far as you can see. he made a joke about it. there you go. there it is. he said he promised he will work on his handwriting so he doesn't go ahead and debase our currency. he made fun of tim geithner's signature which people also said is a little bit sloppy but not compared to that one. lori: just yesterday he learned they're both challenged with their penmanship. raises a interesting and important point. that is the signature will --. melissa: no it is not. he will work on it. not that one. that will not appear. more seriously he heaped a lot of praise on tim geithner saying that he made the perilously hard and political challenges to save

the american people. thanking tim geithner there. lori: we also have rich edson i believe on site who will check in a little bit later throughout the afternoon. we can't to keep you aprized of other day's headlines. a rise in jobless claims. that of course raising new questions about when the job market will show real strong improvement. ftn financial economist lindsay piegza breaks it down with tracy byrnes and ashley webster next here on fox business. don't miss it ♪

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ashley: good afternoon, everyone, i'm ashley webster. tracy: and i'm tracy byrnes. we have some breaking news. president obama task jack lew to be the new chief of treasury just in time for a critical battle over the national debt. he has one vocal critic in the senate so will he secure the job?

ashley: new evidence american job growth is lackluster at best. you throw in smaller paychecks in 2013. what does it all mean for the economy? ftn financial economist lindsey piegza is here to talk about it. tracy: that is good thing. herbalife defends itself against charges it is a pyramid scheme. who will win this escalating fight? we'll cover that wall-to-wall. that is ahead. ashley: first top of the hour time for stocks. the dow is up 44 points. let's head down to the nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange as we do every 15 minutes. stocks gaining back some ground. >> absolutely. we're up again for yesterday. we had back and forth action this week. we're not too far off from the unchanged line. the trend remains slightly to the upside. the dow jones industrials are up one-third of 1%. s&p is up half a percent. seconds are not participating as much. up one tent of 1%. financials doing well on the dow jones. vix is taking a breather.

i want to talk about some names hitting new highs. so let's look at these names in particularly. ford doubling its quarterly different vend up to 2 1/2%. delta getting positive comments from goldman sachs, to a buy from a sell. this is soaring over last four weeks, no pun intended. your on ban outfitters good sales over the holidays. ubs is doing well on this particular list. when i talk about delta air lines i should note some of the traders focus on the transportation index which is higher today and hitting a 52-week high, for all the dow theorists who follow these things and see the transports hitting a high, that certainly bodes well for this bullish market we've been seeing, back to you. ashley: delta really turned things around. thank you so much. tracy: i think all the airlines suck. ashley: you don't like, i know. don't get me started but delta, if you have to fly, they have done things well. tracy: i guess. nobody gives out headphones

anymore. moments ago president obama nominated jack lew and his next treasury. as his next treasury secretary i should say. rich edson live at the white house on this there is lot of pushback on this, isn't there? >> there is starting to be. from the white house per speck tim this transitional pick. president obama highlighting secretary geithner as rescue guy coming to the treasury when the economy is in freefall. at this point it is all about budgets and transition to jack lew. current chief of staff. former budget director for president clinton and president obama and the current chief chief of staff going through this nomination process a trusted presidential advisor. >> over the past year i've sought jack's advice on virtually every decision that i have made from economic policy to foreign policy. one reason jack has been so effective in this town because he is a low-key guy who prefers to surround himself with policy experts rather than television cameras.

over the years he built a reputation as master of policy who can work with members of both parties and forge principled compromises. >> now the opposition. republicans first starting out with their reaction. this from senator jeff sessions. he said we need a secretary of treasury that the american people, the congress, the world will know is up to the task of getting america on the path to prosperity, not the path to decline. jack lew is not that man. the original messages that we're now getting from a number of republican senators who will have to consider this nomination, many are saying that they will go through the vetting process. see what jack lew has to say from confirmation hearings as the information comes out. they want a plan to address spending. many are skeptical they're getting it from the treasury nominee or from the administration. back to you. tracy: rich edson, thanks for all that. ashley: jack lew then must face the senate before he takes the helm at treasury department. with the top republican on budget committee already speaking out against lew are we in for a bumpy

confirmation process on capitol hill? joining us bob cusack, managing editor of "the hill." it could be interesting, bob. we mentioned senator jeff sessions, top ranking republican on the senate budget committee and he said, quote, in a statement that is now at, out, jack lew must never be treasury secretary. he has critics but do you think he will get through the confirmation process. >> i do. sessions will not vote for lew but lew is definitely qualified for the job. republicans, other comments coming in from senator orrin hatch, the top republican on the finance committee. he says we need it to focus on questions about this administration's policy on spending whether medicare, social security where are the specific cuts? i think republicans will look at this and not go after lou personally but go after the policies;r÷ of the obama administration and look back at lew's comments when he was office of management and budget director. that is what sessions is

highlighting. he gave too far rosy a picture where the budget was heading. that is session's concerns. do i think he will ultimately get through? i do. tracy: we don't have a budget, do we, right? we haven't had one for a while. we blow through spending, spending numbers like, god my kids do in the mall. so what are the perks to having this guy on staff other than he is part of the old boys club down in washington? >> i think that is one of the questions that come up. the republican senators are certainly going to ask lew, do you think it is good that the senate pass a budget? senate democrats have not passed a budget for three years. there have been other budget agreements but they have not passed a budget resolution in three years. so they will tweak lew. that is where they will say, listen, we need to have cuts because even democrats say, like chuck schumer said we're on an unsustainable path. whether it is 50 feet or 500 feet. we need to change things. revamp the policies. obviously with this debt

deal that just got signed into law, not any significant savings there and we're clearly on a path that we can't continue on. ashley: all right. bob cusack, with "the hill." bob, thank you so much for joining us. our next guest has worked with jack lew and says his bipartisan credentials make him the right man for the job. joining us kenneth baer former omb director and former senior adivsor to jack lew. kenneth you're uniquely qualified to talk about him. you say he is bipartisan but there are reports that republicans have not had kind things to say about him when they dealt with him during the 2011 budget negotiations. they called him condescending, inflexible and a little bit sneaky. are those fair assessments? >> not at all. you know, to me that is a monumental case of sour grapes. jack lew knows his stuff inside and out. that is why he is such a great negotiator. that is why he has been at

the center of bipartisan big fiscal bargains going back to 1983 dealing with president reagan and speaker o'neill which saved social security. what they don't like he is such a tough person to negotiate from the other side of the table. sort of like taking batting practice from tom seaver. that would be hard to do. tracy: if you could, tell us the differences between him and tim geithner. a lot of people comparing them saying they're very similar. at the same time a lot of people weren't really happen with tim geithner. >> well, you know, i think one similarity these are two gentlemen who really dedicated that life to public service. secretary geithner had long distinguished career at new york fed and the treasury department. jack lew, twice omb director. deputy secretary of state as well as running the white house as chief of staff. their dedication to public service and sacrifices they have given to put in place economic policies that help all americans is really what they have in common. ashley: also, kenneth, you say he is not a wall street insider. we know he spent a short time with citigroup.

>> right. ashley: and also at a senate confirmation hearing in 2010 he told the confirmation hearing that he didn't believe the regulation was a main cause of the financial crisis. so it is all a bit of mixed messages there. what relationship does he have with wall street? >> listen, jack has, really unparalleled experience at senior levels of private sector, public sector an nonprofit sector at new york university. he did work as a management executive at a global financial services company and i think, gives him some insight. i've been with him when he met with wall street executives and other business community leaders and he has a very good rapport with them. i think it will be a really good relationship and outreach to big business as well as small business and all stakeholders. there is very hard to find people in this town who really can say a bad word about jack lew despite grumblings you're getting right now i think is partisan sour grapes if you ask me. ashley: kenneth, thank you so much. with the harvard group and former omb associate director.

>> my pleasure. ashley: thank you so much. tracy: we heard he is a good guy. ashley: yeah, you do. tracy: so that helps. coming up, well good day for one apple is up plyer but not so much for apple itself. making money with charles payne is on deck. ashley: more americans sign up for jobless benefits. when will the labor market show real signs of improvement? that is what everyone is asking. ftn economist, lindsey piegza is here. as we do every day at this time see how oil is trading. dow is trying to move higher and so is oil. up a dollar at $94.05 a barrel. we'll be right back

tracy: it is time to make some money with charles payne following up on a tech stock, cirrus logic and suspicious. mails which happen to be mine. ashley: they're always suspicious but also this time. [laughter] we'll get to that in a minute. >> i thought about you guys

because cirrus came out the gate real strong today. a lot of people are getting geeked up. we did it on your hour not too long ago. it is one i would hold on to. they report earnings later on this month, january 24th. still down 30% from the highs in september. there are all kind of positive scuttlebutt going on with this despite a big move i would hang in there with the stock. i wanted to update that. ashley: so they provide, obviously they're closely tied to apple but they're not a one-trick pony. >> they're not a one-trick pony. their stock traded with apple. it has been as volatile. of course it doesn't have the recuperating abilities we see in apple. now, i did also want to address this, guys. we talk about making money. but sometimes you make money too by not doing some things. tracy byrnes, i got an e-mail this morning, good day. how are you doing. stuck in madrid, spain. i was on a short trip. unfortunately robbed at a park in hotel where i as lodged. all my cash, credit cards, phone, all gone.

please my flight leaves soon. ashley: send money immediately. i got that one too. >> really. i was hoping she could speak spanish. tracy: tippoff, i would have asked for small bills to tip at the strip clubs. that you should have known was not from me. >> the scams keep going. that is fun. tracy: awful. my e-mail gets hacked. just everybody in my whole life got it. ashley: are you getting money. >> i wish at this point, people called and said we'll help you. >> that is why i think it is important. people do, you send it out to a million people, somebody will say, golly, i got to help tracy out. tracy: god bless, actually, these kind people because i've gotten a bunch phone calls today. but not only did they send out this e-mail, they went into my account and changed the recovery e-mail that i had in there, to one they had made up on their own. ashley: oh, my goodness. tracy: so i changed everybody i think i will have to get rid of the account. i'm not in madrid. ashley: don't send, money,

charles. >> i hope you're never truly stuck in madrid because no one will send you money. tracy: boy that cried wolf. >> see you later. don't get stuck in the madrid. that is the moral of the story. tracy: valuable life lessons you get here 2:00 every day. ashley: quarter past the hour. as we do every 15 minutes let's check the markets. nicole petallides on floor of new york stock exchange. i hope you didn't send money, nicole. we're looking at smartphone makers. >> wait a second. you guys left out one thing. if tracy is going on fabulous trips to madrid or wherever, please notify me, trace so i can come and tag along for the weekend. tracy: the tippoff, if you stole all my money, i'm just staying. i'm not coming back. >> i love the way you think. all right. let's get to apple. when you take a look at apple, we talked so much over the past few days about the new, cheaper, iphone that apple is producing for china. well some analysts particularly over at piper

jaffray said cheaper iphones could bring down apple's margin. this could be one of the concerns. the analyst actually cutting his price target on apple. we'll see how they fare with that. appeal -- apple at 516.66 nowhere near the $700 mark they were in september. let's look at nokia. still holding the gains it got earlier today. 17% to the upside the lumia phone doing much better than anticipated. they shipped four million lumia devices in fourth quarter. that lifted total shipments to 6.6 million. that is more than they expected. gaining market share and face intense competition from samsung and others. ashley: thank you, nicole. we'll be back with you in 15 minutes. ashley: i sent some money to a guy in nigeria. waiting to hear back. tracy: i got some of those.

herbalife is aggressive fighting charges that it is nothing more than a pyramid scheme. ashley: how the dollar is moving with the dollar moving slightly higher. down against almost all currencies. the yen slightly higher against the dollar. we'll be right back. >> announcer: you never know when, but thieves can steal

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>> at 20 minutes past the hour. i'm anna kooiman with your fox news minute. vice president joe biden is meeting with the nra, the nation's top gun lobby, on gun policy. biden met yesterday with gun safety and victims groups. he will send his gun recommendations to the president by tuesday. former penn state assistant coach jerry sandusky back in court today. his lawyers arguing he deserves a new trial because his defense team lacked time to prepare for the first one. no ruling from the judge just yet. sandusky was convicted in june of 45 counts of child sex abuse. a shift in ice appears to have freed the dozen killer whales trapped in the hudson bay ice about 900 miles north ever montreal. the whales were taking turns bobbing for air out of a single break in the ice the past couple days. villages were planning a ice breaking rescue when the wind shifted moving the ice and creating an opening for the whales to sim out to

safety. love this story. those are the news headlines. back to tracy and ashley. ashley: anna, thank you. like the movie, the big miracle, with the whales trapped up in alaska. very good and a happy ending too. thank you, anna. we love that. herbalife's investor day turns into a defensive effort after an investor claims the company's business model is really just a pyramid scheme. adam shapiro was at the conference. adam. >> this is the battle of billionaire hedge fund managers. herbalife is caught in the middle. at the core of all this whether herbalife as bill ackman says from pershing capital, whether they're actually a pyramid scheme or not. herbalife made the argument that they're a legitimate business with $44 million in research and development. they're distributors, according to a survey they hired to have done, their distributors, past distributors are still happy with the company. 83% had a favorable view of

herbalife. 63 of those would recommend herbalife to a family member or a friend in order to do business. so the investors and analysts there they're on the side of herbalife according to this one we spoke to. >> i just say they point by point, went through everything and there was absolutely nothing to the ackman points after they diffused every single one of them. i think one place where they really scored a lot of points they brought in a professor from northwestern and, you know, kellogg school of business and she went through all the things that you would think about for a pyramid scheme and went through all the things you think about for mlm. basically these guys are just clean. they are a good, solid mlm. this is a way to get product to market. they're not really getting all their compensation from recruitment. they're getting it from sell the product. >> that's what herbalife is saying but william ackman, is saying no. this is a pyramid scheme and

now, pershing square putting out a statement with ackman that they intend to rebut the rebuttal, point by point of the at core of this, do those distributors make any money? according to ackman herbalife did not respond to our identification of overstatements and inaccuracies in the company's earnings statements for distributors which among other deceptions, quote, excludes the 93% of distributors that have zero gross earnings. that would at least indicate, if he is accurate, if you don't have any earnings you're a distributor sure does sound like a pyramid scheme but a lot of investors thinking that herbalife is on the up and up and legit. ashley: there is more to this story. i'm sure we'll have more. adam shapiro thank you so much. whatever you to do not miss charlie gasparino's interview with herbalife president des walsh, 4:00 p.m. eastern time right here on fox business. charlie gasparino on the story. he will get to the bottom of it. tracy: he will certainly.

latest jobless numbers rising this week. is this proof that the american job growth continues to be lackluster in this country? ashley: what does it mean for the overall economy. joining us is ftn financial economist lindsey piegza. once again thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me. ashley: it was lackluster, really ho hum. is there any positives in the report. >> we saw the jobless claims pulling four-week average up. once we parse out the temporary volatility to hurricane sandy we find ourselves very much unchanged from where we were before the superstorm hit. really no change in the labor market. we're still just kind of bumping along. tracy: we heard that small business confidence is ridiculously low. they're not hiring. where will the job growth come from. >> that is part of the problem. the fed continues to have very accommodative policy in place and continue to pass along the baton to the federal government saying now it is your job to put pro-growth, pro-business

policies in place to reinvent the investor class and business class in order to grow that highering. ashley: we heard from a number of companies and we're just into the new year about more staff reductions. that must be a concern. >> it certainly is. we're seeing more and more companies moving full-time employees to part-time employees to rein in the costs. still keep the employees on payrolls but reducing hours. ashley: fran cheese of wendy's in nebraska, we may see more of this, bringing hours down so they don't have to pay for the employee's health care. >> businesses are struggling with the recovery very tepid. three years into the recovery we should talk about four, five, 6% growth. but we're not. we're still very much range-bound at 2%. tracy: a lot of it has to do, most of it has to do with washington and lack of direction. now we're up against this debt ceiling. we don't have a budget. play that out for us. happens to the economy during all that? >> we do we continue to see the overhang of uncertainty and we saw that effect in the quarters leading up to

the fiscal cliff negotiations. now what we've done is really kick the can down the road for another three months saying, okay, we can hold on but that does not reinstate confidence for small businesses or reinvent the incentive to get the capital into the market to grow businesses and create jobs. ashley: but on the flipside of that, lindsey, once they do get their act together, and that's a big if, isn't it, once they do it take as way a lot of uncertainty could we see a real hush to hire and expand? >> i don't know if we'll see a rush to hire. in the long term we will as we see a more sustainable recovery. we're seeing budgets becoming more balanced on the state level and talk of that leading to hiring. i'm skeptical we'll see that in the short term as most of those budget surpluses have already been allocated to really cover short falls or cover expect the rise in costs particularly surrounding medicaid. tracy: interesting you're saying states are seeing more revenue. so they're collecting more taxes. >> sure. tracy: will we continue to see that? will we see a little more exodus from the high tax states?

>> we could see that again in the long run. in the short run i think people will sit that out. we're starting to see a little better recovery on the state level. revenues are set to increase about 4%. right there we're starting to see budgets come in line but there are still a lot of holes as we saw a lot of programs, specifically pensions underfunded in those years following the great recession. tracy: i would be interested to see the exodus, especially from states like ours, connecticut, new jersey, california. ashley: people moving out. >> certainly small businesses relocating. >> absolutely. lindsey, love having you here. >> thanks so much. ashley: thanks, lindsey. coming up identity theft is swamping the irs not just tracy's e-mail. you won't believe how long victims have to wait until their cases are resolved. complete nightmare for victims. will gerri willis is on the story. she will be here next. tracy: dow is up 35 points. look at some winners on the s&p 500 as we head out to break. best buy up 5% and urban outfitters almost up 5% today. we'll be right back.

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the third quarter earnings. at the rest is for people who are short the market and make it, on the upside because a lot of companies have ratcheted down there will surprise to the upside and the market will take off. tracy: you talk about 1490 on the s&p, sitting now at 1466. the short squeeze is pretty bullish. >> i have to say that, but that's what i see in the numbers. again, 1490 is my mark, and i don't think that will change. we are building momentum with some of the trading, even though it is lackluster. i think we get there easily. >> thank you. we always appreciate your insight. back to you. ashley: thank you. we'll be back to : 15 mets. tracy: scary news for anyone filing a tax return and hoping to get a refund. the taxpayer advocates services reporting that tax-related that in the theft is up over 615%. this is over the past four years. the internal revenue service is

warning victim's it could take six months to resolve these cases. >> people still your identity, take out loans, student loans, car loans, you name it, and now the irs is saying that taxpayers are getting arrested for crimes they did not commit. someone else committed in their name. prime time, people are starting to think about filing taxes. yet in the -- the irs saying it will take up to six months to resolve the cases because there are so many people in the pipeline to be 650,000 cases. the problem is up 80% year-over-year because it is easy to do, especially if you are just a w-2 employee. start hanging around mailboxes and steal the w-2 and filed a tax return unbeknownst to them and get the money. a big problem. tracy: getting it back is challenging because people have to go through the paperwork to file. ashley: then the victim trying to prove to you or who you are. meanwhile, it is a complete

nightmare. id theft is a huge problem, but when it comes to the irs is even more difficult. gerri: the victim is commonly the elderly. in some cases they have even lost their homes because somebody else and their identity and maintains they are that person the motherhouse is mine, and the elderly person really gets hurt. tracy: gerri willis. tracy: the willis report tonight. were you talking about? gerri: all kinds of things, including executive orders. how does barack obama stack up against other presidents. can he put an executive order limiting guns in place? ashley: a shocking debate. thank you very much. uncle sam is out with new rules designed to stop risky mortgages. will they do the job? liz macdonald is all over the story next. tracy: first, as we do every day

at this time of day, let's take a look at the ten and 30-year treasurys as we head to break. ♪

♪ >> good afternoon. and sandra smith with your fox business brief. president obama officially nominating his chief of staff, jack lew, to be the next treasury secretary. facing some opposition in the senate, including alabama

republican jeff sessions and vermont independent senator bernie sanders. burger king largest franchise will pay to one-half million dollars to settle federal claims of sexual harassment in the 14-year lawsuit with the club signed opportunity commission. it settled the case to avoid litigation costs. and 1-and-4 workers plan to change jobs this year. that is according to a survey by career builders. the same survey showed potential employees are making a rages mistakes. 62 percent of employees are appearing this interested. that's the latest from the fox business network, giving you the power prosper.

♪ ashley: the government finally unveiling new rules to stop mortgage abuses that led to the financial collapse in 2008. now, the rules are aimed at protecting mortgage borrowers, but they do much more.

the usher in a whole new world of mortgages. what does it mean for you? here is liz macdonald with the bottom line. what does it do? liz: we have to clear up media misconceptions. misreporting already on this story. on the phone with the consumer financial protection bureau. these rules sunset after five years, but let's get to what we're talking about. essentially, banks now legally, by law, must mayor of -- verify your ability to pay your loan. verify your income, assets, credit history, that to much house support, loans, credit cards and also your job status. banks have to verify this. let's cut to the next one. no more toxic loan features, meaning long gone are the days of the no-income, no document, no problem mortgage. what you're seeing is that those loans can still be made available, but they will be under the umbrella term, a

qualified mortgage. in the next one, debt payments cannot exceed more than 43 percent of your income. again, this is a new rule. all of your debt to my child support, of the loans, credit cards. and that is really lenient. that is a reasonable standard because last year the debt to income ratio was around 34%. the averages trending around 36%. the government is giving the banks leeway. capping points and fees at 3 percent, and they have the incentive if they follow all the rules, there will be shielded from lawsuits. another misconception. consumers can still sue, they can still sue any bank over a bad loan or mortgage for whatever reason, but this basically says that if you, lender, you will be shielded from lawsuits in court the judge will say, you know what to mike case dismissed. the other important point to make is that these rules do

sunset after five years. the government will revisit them. this is like to striving to see how it goes and if it works and if people like it. but subject to amendment after five years and the other misconception, sub prime loans will still be out there, those no-interest, no document loans. basically -- by the way, the cftc told me, they don't want to as over or wreck that for the low income or first-time borrower. they want those people to come into the market. they just cannot be as risky as they were before, so that is the deal in the bottom line. ashley: good stuff. tracy: they were created for a purpose, to help people. that's all i got my first mortgage. liz: and it was for the upper hand, the ridge bracket. they really were. that is why there were no interest. those people could pay them in the early 90's. then in flooded into the low-income bracket. tracy: interesting.

ashley: thanks. tracy: well, the academy award nominations are in, and there are some surprises about who was left out. no surprise, dennis kneele is on the story. >> reporter: a dead president, a dead terrorists, and a computer animated tagger let oscar nominations out today along with a major snub that may reflect hollywood liberal bent. an impressive 12 nominations including best picture, best director, and the three bids for actors. "life of pi" came in second, now, the nine best film, commercially a better crop than last year. a silent film won best picture, though few people ever bothered to see it. the best film nominees include the musical box office hit "les miserables" with eight nominations total. "silver lingings playbook."

"django unchained" got five nominations, and the air ron hostage thriller "argo" got seven nominations. the osama kill mission thriller "zero dark thirty" getting five oscar nods, but nothing for its director who won the oscar for the her locker a few years ago. hollywood accusing her of endorsing torture as a way of -- playing a role in finding a osama. the dark horse is this little noticed "beast of the southern wild." it got four nominations, including one for the youngest actress ever to get a best actress nomination. she is nine years old. her name is quvenzhane wallis.

kind of hard to pick which one you want to read for camino? ashley: but "lincoln", 12 nominations. and "life of pi," which did not get a whole lot of who hawk, but certainly did well in the nomination category. i'm sure will have a special effect. >> that tiger. tracy: i don't get out much. i have not seen one of those. except for bond. i did not enjoy it. ashley: five nominations. tracy: i did not enjoy it. >> thank you very much. it's a guy thing. tracy: there was no girl in a guy thing. how could it be a guy thing? ashley: gadgets. tracy: gadgets, but no girls. i don't know. ashley: it's a quarter till. stocks as we do every 15 minutes. nicole on the floor of the nyse, looking at -- let them roll, casino stocks. >> reporter: still on the same page. i have not seen any of the movies and always enjoy a love story.

as tracy said, there was no love story in the bond movie. i send my kids to it. let's take a look of some of the casino stocks. the only one holding up is when resorts because they get an upgrade. the group overall is coming -- coming under pressure, down 2%, mgm down two and a half, sans down 1/4 1%. revenue numbers that have been coming up are a little shy. what we have seen is total revenue in november, numbers are falling 11% to 782 million. stripped over in vegas accounting for more than half of the total, but over there in vegas they have seen the numbers dropping even more so. we did have a couple. gm was downgraded to neutral from buy. and, of course, as i noted. ashley: well, liz claman was just in los vegas. i imagine those numbers a turnaround. thank you very much. tracy: i feel bad that she missed out on a bond movie

because of me. i would not steer wrong. ashley: you don't like daniel craig? tracy: coming up, five weeks until we get the debt ceiling. when will washington get serious about fixing the problem? ashley: mcdonald's once again trying. live in chicago with a preview. first, take a look at some of the winners and losers but the dow up 54 points. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] this is karen anjeremiah. they don't know it yet, but they' gonna fall in love, get married, have a couple of kids, [ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy life together

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♪ tracy: all right. mcdonald's may be adding a hot new item to its menu. chicken wings. the fast-food giant testing my dealings in chicago before rolling them out at its other locations. no surprise. jeff flock is live with a taste test. we think they should be called mcwings. >> reporter: they call them mighty wings. i think they like that better. can you tell, by the way, take a look. is that the mcdonald's wing? is that? is that? do you know which one? one, too, or three? tracy: and not even sure. ashley: the last one you pointed to. >> reporter: you think this is the mcdonald's wing. is that what you think? yet, you are right. they're kind of like chicken nuggets with a bone in my view.

i'm not going man, so i asked my producer to talk to us about wings because he is my wing man. >> clearly i am going man. >> reporter: the thing about these, you found mcdonald's, you can pick up in the end of the your hands misstep, whereas what we have here -- which one is that? >> rainforest cafe. next door to that is the hard rock cafe. these here are quite tangy and messy, so obviously not good for, you know, behind the wheel. >> reporter: drunk in a bar somewhere. >> i would not know anything about that, of course. >> reporter: this is actually not a bad point, guys. these are edible. you can eat these as a hand food. it is like nuggets' with a bone. these are inedible if you are driving a car or doing something else, so there you go. that is our report on wings. they do flight.

ashley: on the wing and a prayer. [laughter] work with me. thank you. great stuff. welcome back to more serious topics, 35 days from hitting the debt ceiling. the head of the u.s. chamber of commerce says our exploding debt is the biggest threat to our economic future. will congress be able to tackle the government's spending problems? joining me now, former head of the republican party in virginia and former senior adviser to senator harry reid. thank you both for being here. kate, let's begin with you. was reading some of your notes. you're not a happy person with your own party. you say the gop needs to grow a backbone. the president's tactics of class warfare is working in the republicans need to wake up. >> yes, i think that the president has been incredibly successful with really vilifying republicans, pointing them as loving only the mega wealthy, which he classifies as anyone

making over $250,000. it is this steady attack and drumbeat that they don't care about the working class and middle america. it is time for republicans to stand up for some fiscal sanity and point out the fact that penney's, senator reid has not bought up budget -- brought to the senate floor a budget in two years which is just irresponsible. instead we have these manufactured crises, and the republicans are told, you are going to be blamed if we fall off the fiscal cliff or if we don't get an increase in the debt ceiling. republicans need to stand at. ashley: why has senator reid not brought a budget to the senate floor, and what about this class warfare issue? is it unfair? >> well, you know, we cannot continue to legislate. ashley: i agree. we cannot legislate by crisis by crisis which is just kicking the can down the road for one month at a time. we need to have adults in the

room to hammer out a long-term fiscal plan. i think that is what the president was doing today when he announced, as is the treasury secretary, jack lew. that is really hopefully with him there now at the head of the treasury department and with some, bruises from the last two battles, we will have some sanity returned and we can actually get something done that is more than just one more month of kicking things down the road. ashley: kate, you are not a big fan of jack lew, are you? and no other republicans have called him condescending and flexible, even a little sneaky. >> i think jack lew signals obama's intention to only intensify this class warfare rhetoric. jack lew has been right in line with the president's unwillingness to even discuss spending when it comes to the debt ceiling debate that we are

going to be having. he hhs been intransigent, certain republicans down it came to any sort of meaningful spending cuts in the fiscal cliff. ashley: giving her the last word, do you think jack lew is the man? >> i do. negotiating tip o'neill and ron reagan, newt gingrich and bill clinton. this is someone who knows how to bring both sides together and get a deal done. ashley: we have to leave it there. thank you so much, kate obenshain and penny lee. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. ashley: always want to debate. tracy: sure is. ashley: lots to talk about. tracy: for a while now. a valentine's day, which, a lot going on. all right. cheryl take as to the last hour "countdown to tmyhe closing bel" is next. ♪ i honestly loved smoking, and i honestly didn't think i would ever quit. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke.

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